MARTINEZ — A gang conspiracy case unraveled in April when charges against all four defendants were dismissed on a technicality that came from a scheduling conflict.

A Contra Costa County Superior Court judge dismissed the case against the suspected Norteño gang members charged in an alleged plot to commit a gang shooting, saying the defendants’ rights to a continuous preliminary hearing had been violated when the presiding judge was forced to postpone a hearing date.

The defendants, Adam Flores, 24; Armando Amaro, 20; Ernesto Esquibell, 21; and Jesse Loyola, 23, were charged with street terrorism, conspiracy to commit assault with a firearm, evading police, and a range of gun violations. They were accused of driving into rival Sureño gang territory with the intent to shoot someone.

Amaro is also facing unrelated charges that he and others conspired to retaliate against a rival gang after Amaro was wounded in an Antioch shooting.

But the case against Flores, Amaro, Esquibell, and Loyola ran into problems early on. First, defense attorneys were granted a dismissal in September when a judge ruled that prosecutors had failed to turn over wiretap evidence — transcripts of surreptitiously recorded phone calls — in a timely fashion.

The defendants were then re-charged, released, and then re-arrested within a matter of days. This second dismissal — ordered on April 20 by Judge Theresa Canepa — means prosecutors are barred from refiling the charges, though they can appeal Canepa’s decision.

The reason for the dismissal? Defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed to September 2016 dates to hold a preliminary hearing, where a judge reviewed the case and ultimately ordered the four to stand trial.

But on one of the agreed-upon dates, a judge was forced to take on a trial, and postponed the preliminary hearing. The hearing couldn’t be immediately rescheduled because two attorneys weren’t available.

That, Canepa later ruled, violated a state law that says defendants are entitled to a continuous preliminary hearing. Following the dismissal, the four defense attorneys wrote a joint statement applauding the judge’s decision.

“(Canepa) demonstrated a true and complete understanding of the rights that were at stake in this case,” the statement reads. “Regardless of the procedural aspects of this case, our clients have denied the allegations from the day these charges were filed and continue to do so.”

“Four violent gang members benefited from a legal technicality created by one of the defense attorney’s need to take a vacation in the middle of a preliminary hearing,” DeFerrari said. “Through a combination of legal artifice and an overcrowded Superior Court schedule, four men who carry guns and do violence in our community have avoided responsibility — for today.”

Nate Gartrell covers crime, politics, and corruption in Contra Costa County. He joined the Bay Area News Group in 2014. Outside of journalism, he doesn't do much. He aspires to visit all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. Reach him at 925-779-7174.